This invention relates generally to casino gaming and, more particularly, to an improved system for operating cashless and tokenless gaming apparatus using an account accessed solely by a biometric sample.
Various means to use biometric samples are known, including use of fingerprints, hand prints, voice prints, retinal images, handwritten samples, and the like. Presently, most biometric data are stored on a token in electronic form, such as on a smart card or the like. Thus, the biometric data for a particular individual can be fraudulently copied and reproduced, for example, if a card is lost or stolen.
A tokenless biometric ATM access system is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,764,789 wherein a customer registers with a computer system. Here, the customer registers a personal identification number (PIN), one or more biometric samples, and one or more financial accounts. The customer initiates account access at an ATM or other financial device by entering the customer's personal authentication information which includes a PIN and a biometric sample. The personal authentication information is compared with the registration biometric sample to produce a successful or failed identification of the customer. If there is a successful identification of the customer, the customer is allowed to access the account.
This system positively identifies a person's identity to that person's specific account or accounts. In any typical bank or other financial account where a user has access to ATM machines, essential to the transaction is the relating of numerous details concerning the particular person to a particular account where that person is known to the bank or financial institution by address, social security number, birth date, and the like. The present system is not necessarily concerned with a person's details of his identity, such as social security number and the like. The present system is concerned with relay a only a particular biometric sample to a financial account. The person need not be identified further. Thus, effectively, the account is held in the level of the biometric sample, rather than in the name of the person. This allows for a certain level of anonymity that numerous gaming patrons deem to be of great importance. Thus, this system may be more similar to a system that uses currency. Of course, on the other hand, if deriserd, the present system allows a gaming organization to keep detailed records of the details of specific gaming patrons and groups of gaming patrons. Obviously, if desired, an alternate embodiment of the present system would give the gaming organization the ability to tie a particular biometric sample to a particular gaming patron and track that patron's activity within the system.
Finally, U.S. Pat. No. 6,012,039 (Hoffman et al.) discloses a tokenless biometric electronic rewards system where a recipient registers a biometric sample. The system authorizes reward transactions and the debiting and crediting of reward units from a reward recipient's electronic account, either at the retail point of sale or over the internet. The rewards recipient is not required to directly use any man-made personalized token in order to effect the transaction.